Sunday, September 18, 2005

Divorce

My divorce proceeds on the circuit court's schedule. Pre trial hearing in November, trial in December. It's Jeannie's divorce too. I wonder what she thinks about it? I wish it were over.

Before those hearings, Jeannie is going back to court to have the restraining order that prevents her from moving the kids out of Maryland lifted. This will be her third try at this. These trips to court cost between $500.00 to $1,000.00 apiece for each of us.

Jeannie is not allowing the kids to visit me. This is in contravention of a judges order. It's also wrong, and bad for the kids - which is exactly why a judge ordered visitation. Jeannie must know better than the judge, me, and every professional that says that two parents are better than one.

The court ordered Jeannie and I to mediation. Mediation is always ordered in cases where custody is disputed according to the court. It failed utterly. It was probably the first time a mediation ended when the mediator evinced too much frustration to go on. The mediator dismissed us. It was a telling thing - I now feel like everything that Jeannie does right going forward will have to be court ordered.

I'm not sure how I feel about all this struggle. It certainly costs a lot of money. I think we are spending a bunch of money to have a judge decide whether Jeannie can remove me from the kids lives, whether I or the kids want that.